From the Blog

KURE Fest 2018

88.5 KURE is proud to announce that Smallpools and Wet will be co-headlining this year’s KURE Fest on October 21st! They will be supported by local favorites The Fuss and Annalibera! Tickets will be $12 for Iowa State Students, and $20 for the public. You can buy yours here.

SMALLPOOLS

After bursting onto the scene with their 4 song self-titled EP, Smallpools has toured to all corners of North America supporting Twenty One Pilots, WALK THE MOON, Neon Trees, Grouplove, and Two Door Cinema Club, as well as playing both Lollapalooza and Firefly Festival. The release of their self-titled debut EP gained them critical acclaim and brought them their national TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live, performing their debut single “Dreaming” which was produced by Captain Cuts. You can hear watch the music video for “Dreaming” here, which has almost 9 million views, and counting.

On March 20th, 2015, the band released their debut album, LOVETAP!. Receiving over 85 million Spotify streams, the band performed their second single “Karaoke” on Late Night with Seth Meyers followed by two successful North American headlining tours.

In addition, “Dreaming” reached #1 in July 2015 at pop radio in Japan resulting in a sold out headlining show at Club Duo in Tokyo and a premier slot at Summer Sonic Festival.

Last year, the band co-wrote the song “Break Up Every Night” on The Chainsmokers’ debut album, Memories… Do Not Open, which was released in April via Disrupter/Columbia Records. The song was performed on the duo’s Saturday Night Live debut on release day.

On August 4th, 2017, Smallpools released their latest EP titled, “The Science of Letting Go” via Kobalt Music Group. They performed that same night in celebration of the release to an eager sold out crowd in Los Angeles. The EP has garnered over 20M streams on Spotify since its release. A video for the single “Passenger Side” was filmed and directed by modern dance icon Phillip Chbeeb (Ed Sheeran, Step Up Revolution). 2017 also saw the band supporting Misterwives on their “Connect the Dots” North American tour.

WET

Brooklyn based Wet have returned with a new sound and a new outlook, one informed by lead singer and songwriter Kelly Zutrau taking creative control. From its first measure, their new single “There’s a Reason” shows how Wet’s new material departs from their more ethereal earlier work. “Reason” is a sauntering ballad that features Zutrau’s confident, sun-dappled vocals floating over fellow member Joe Valle’s meticulous arrangements, its chimes and strings underscoring the simple, yet powerful message conveyed in its lyrics.
“There’s a Reason” not only represents Wet’s new sound; it also nods to the path Zutrau and fellow Valle took in the two years since their debut Don’t You came out. Much of Wet’s shift stems from Zutrau’s more forceful vocals, which allow her direct, yet poetic lyrics to resonate more deeply. “There were a lot of challenges and a lot of changes,” says Zutrau, “there were so many reasons to not make music together anymore. But someting made us keep coming back to it.” That’s what ‘There’s a Reason’ is about”

Zutrau wrote much of the band’s second album while on tour and while Valle produced much of the album, they also brought in producers such as John Hill (Portugal. The Man, Florence + The Machine), Rostam (Haim, Solange) and Andrew Sarlo (Big Thief) to round out the new sound.

Wet’s second record, which comes out later this year, is a testament to taking that control and pursuing one’s artistic vision—and it also shows how any hiccups that might crop up along the way can make the vision’s eventual realization more satisfying. “I knew myself better during the making of this album,” says Zutrau, “and it shows.”

THE FUSS

The Fuss began as a solo project of singer, guitarist, and songwriter Joey Lyons; a Des Moines native; who had been writing and recording original music in a variety of capacities for several years before forming the band. In September of 2014, he independently produced and released an EP titled “One” under the name the Fuss, which was recognized by a French indie music blog, and noticed by local and regional touring bands through Joey’s BandCamp page.

After receiving offers to open for local artists in early 2015, Joey enlisted Matt Nelson to join on bass guitar to help transition the existing songs to a live format, as well as to recruit additional members. Over the course of 2015 and 2016, Joey and Matt worked to extend the lineup from a duo to a four piece, release a second EP, write and produce a full length album, and build a fan base in Des Moines, while receiving noteworthy acknowledgments from organizations such as the Des Moines Music Coalition and Iowa Music Project.

ANNALIBERA

Annalibera is a Des Moines-based band founded in 2010 by frontwoman Anna Gebhardt. They have used the words “inconsistent” and “That’s some crazy pop music” to describe the genre of their ever-changing sound. The band’s most recent release from earlier this year is called Opia.